Car slams into Cherokee County ambulance

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. - Cherokee authorities say a 21-year-old driver lost control on an icy road and hit an ambulance carrying a 4-year-old patient on Wednesday afternoon.

Cherokee Fire and Emergency Services officials said the ambulance received a green light to make a left turn on Highway 5 from the Publix parking lot at East Cherokee Drive when a car driver "traveling at a substantial rate of speed" could not stop at the red light.

The driver lost control and hit the side of the ambulance, glanced off and then ran into a National Guard Humvee that was escorting the ambulance to the hospital, officials said. The ambulance driver said none of the occupants involved appeared to have suffered injuries in the wreck.

The 4-year-old patient was eventually taken to a hospital complaining of back pain caused from sledding.

Officials said the 21-year-old car driver told authorities she wanted to see what it was like out on the roads. Cherokee officials, however, stress the importance of people staying off the roads as sleet and freezing rain continue to make driving very hazardous.